SAD SONG CREEK, the Enchanted Woods

 200 ACRES in the SAD SONG CREEK WATERSHED is NOW PURCHASED AND SECURE!

    Sad Song Creek Preserve contains a symmetrically rounded hill, a significant section of Sad Song Creek, two beautiful ponds, a large acreage of native Appalachian forest, and expansive meadows filled with native Ohio prairie grasses (Little Bluestem and Indian Grass).

    The Highlands Nature Sanctuary already owns the "beginning" and the "end" of Sad Song Creek. The headwaters of Sad Song were purchased earlier in 2002 when we acquired the 26 acre tract of Shining Springs -- a wetlands in which several cold springs well upward from buried aquifers, feeding the clear waters of the creek year-round.. At the time of its purchase, Shining Springs was far-flung from the Sanctuary's main holdings. The purchase of Sad Song Creek will nearly connect Shining Springs with the heart of the Sanctuary.

    The "end" of Sad Song exits into the main Rocky Fork Gorge at Boyd's Cemetery, part of our Barrett's Rim purchase back in year 2000 (please see map below). This interesting region retains one of the county’s oldest cemeteries, now covered with forest. It is here that pioneer Dr. Boyd built his modest one-room pioneer “hospital” in which he treated large numbers of children who came down with a severe outbreak of typhoid fever in the early 1800’s. Most of the existing gravestones and  their inscribed poems give voice to the despair felt by the heart-broken parents who buried their children by the cold, rippling creek. Perhaps that is how the creek's nickname, Sad Song Creek, came to be. On the map, Sad Song Creek earned its official name, "Factory Branch" from the three mills -- a sawmill, grain mill, and woolen mill -- that were built on the banks of the creek in pioneer days and formed the heart of a small, bustling but ephemeral town.

    At a phenomenally beautiful section of the creek the spring-fed waters of Sad Song Creek cut through a most unusual and breathtaking rock formation. It looks as if some ancient explosion lifted large numbers of rocks the size of small cottages into the air, and let them fall in a chaotic disorderly “heap.” So close and jumbled are these rocks, that the valley is filled with shadows. Rays of light stream through rock holes and gaps between the rocks, creating an otherworldly feel. Through this rock-maze of tilted boulders winds the stream of Sad Song Creek in its rock-rimmed ravine. Each boulder is immersed in the deep green of mosses, liverworts, bulblet ferns, walking ferns, and limestone-loving wildflowers such as columbine and stonecrop. Oozing from the ravine walls are dozens of cold springs that saturate the peaty soils, making entry into this fairylike realm difficult walking. At the end of the property, the creek makes a final exit from its rocky prison and tumbles with a splash of white water over a crescent waterfall. This perennial feature is fed year round by springs—defying even this previous summer’s drought. Nowhere in the preserve, or anywhere in Ohio for that matter, have we ever witnessed a geologic/botanic feature comparable to this section of Sad Song Creek.

 At least one known potentially threatened species grows along the rock walls lining Sad Song Creek, that of Sullivantia sullivantii. This alkaline-loving small-flowered saxifrage is found only in Ohio, Virginia, and Indiana. In these three states it is found in only a few isolated pockets. Along the rock walls overlooking the creek, Sullivantia grows in such abundance thatit belies its imperiled status elsewhere in the world. The Highlands Nature Sanctuary is perhaps the most important anchor for this particular species in the entire world.  

    The property of Sad Song Creek contains nearly the entire perimeter of a symmetrical hill, known as Celandine Hill. Celandine Hill has three outcrops of bedrock: dolomite at its base, shale mid-way, and a cap of the beautiful rainbow sandstone. At the top of hill are three interesting stone cairns. These were most likely constructed slowly over the years by hikers, each person contributing a stone to the increasing mound. It may even be that today’s cairns are the reconstructed ruins of the ones that the Native Americans frequently constructed on the hilltops in this region. In any case, the cairns give today’s hikers an opportunity to admire the colorful striations found in this region’s rainbow sandstone – a bedrock that was a cherished building block for pioneer buildings still standing in the nearby town of Bainbridge, in Ross County.